Faliraki crackdown will be 'softly-softly'

English-speaking Greek police will lead a 'softly-softly' crackdown on loutish behaviour by Britons visiting Faliraki, it was announced yesterday.

Strict rules will govern large, organised pub crawls next year, while controls on bars and clubs in the Rhodes resort will be enforced more rigidly.

This summer, images of British revellers, drinking heavily and having sex in public dominated the island's headlines after the death of Paddy Doran, from Leicestershire.

The 17-year-old was stabbed in a fight with fellow Britons outside a club. Matters came to a head when Greek authorities responded to the unruly behaviour.

One teenager was jailed for baring her breasts and five holiday reps were arrested for allegedly taking people on unregistered bar crawls.

The town is to get its own police station with 20 officers - most of them English speakers. John Iatrides, mayor of the island's Kallithea region, said his officers had taken tips from police in Blackpool about dealing with latenight revellers.

There would be no draconian measures, he insisted, adding: 'It is very much a softlysoftly approach. We want young visitors to keep coming.'